Men's Lacrosse Blows Out Towson

COLLEGE PARK, Md. -- In the first quarter of the
Maryland-Towson game yesterday, the Terps had 14
possessions and scored eight times. That's offense.

Over that same 15-minute stretch, the Tigers had control of
the ball eight times, but Maryland limited them to one goal.
That's defense.

There isn't much more to the game except for goaltending, and
the No. 3 Terps had that, too, with Kevin Healy chalking up a
better than 2-to-1 saves to goals allowed ratio, as Maryland
romped, 17-6.

No. 15 Towson (1-1) was not only outmaneuvered from the
start, it was outnumbered throughout, as Maryland coach
Dick Edell kept running in players.

"We recruit these kids because we think they can play here,
so why not try to work them in early and get them some good
runs?" Edell said.

Indeed. Ten different players tallied goals for the 3-0 Terps
and 11 were credited with assists.

"The fact we can put 28 or 29 guys out there will show up in
the latter part of games. This is a big week for us with games
Wednesday [Penn State] and Saturday [Cornell]. Usually, you
have to `rope-a-dope' your way through one. I think we can
go all-out because of our depth and conditioning," Edell said.

The game had no sooner started when Scott Hochstadt took
the ball out of the deep right corner and went all the way in for
an unassisted goal, starting his eighth career hat trick. The
junior was on the board again a couple of minutes later.

What turned out to be Towson's last gasp came just 3: 39 into
the game when Steve Preis hit the first of his three first-half
goals to make it 2-1. Maryland then scored seven straight
goals and appeared to maintain control of the ball about 80
percent of the time, even when stopped by Towson's
improving defense.

All told, the Terps had a dozen more possessions than
Towson, as Matt Haggerty and Chris Nohe controlled the
faceoff circle, 17-6. "We stress getting and keeping
possession," said Edell. "The other team can't make line
switches and they're running backward while trying to defend."

Which is exactly the game Towson was forced to play most of
the day. Hochstadt had three assists to go with his three goals
and Matt Hahn added a hat trick and an assist. Terps
freshman Buggs Combs, the son of Towson football coach
Gordy Combs, also contributed three goals.